§3223 — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

The President must quickly start talks with other countries and groups, including fuel suppliers, fuel recipients, and organizations like the IAEA, to build international plans for meeting world nuclear fuel needs. The talks should aim to reach binding agreements with six main goals: create an international nuclear fuel authority to provide and allocate fuel services; set conditions for guaranteed fuel supplies that prevent use for nuclear weapons; plan safe, inspected sites for fuel services and storage; set up international repositories for spent reactor fuel; provide compensation if spent fuel’s energy is later recovered; and include penalties for breaking the agreements. These guaranteed benefits are only for countries that follow nonproliferation rules: accept IAEA safeguards on all peaceful nuclear activities, do not make or acquire nuclear explosive devices, do not create new enrichment or reprocessing plants (whether officially or in practice), and place any existing such plants under international oversight. A required report to Congress must say how these talks are progressing. The President may not enter a non‑treaty binding agreement from these talks until Congress approves it by concurrent resolution. Proposals under subsection (b) must be sent to Congress as part of the annual Department of Energy authorization law.

Title 22, §3223

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Consistent with section 3224 of this title, the President shall institute prompt discussions with other nations and groups of nations, including both supplier and recipient nations, to develop international approaches for meeting future worldwide nuclear fuel needs. In particular, the President is authorized and urged to seek to negotiate as soon as practicable with nations possessing nuclear fuel production facilities or source material, and such other nations and groups of nations, such as the IAEA, as may be deemed appropriate, with a view toward the timely establishment of binding international undertakings providing for—

(1)the establishment of an international nuclear fuel authority (INFA) with responsibility for providing agreed upon fuel services and allocating agreed upon quantities of fuel resources to ensure fuel supply on reasonable terms in accordance with agreements between INFA and supplier and recipient nations;

(2)a set of conditions consistent with subsection (d) under which international fuel assurances under INFA auspices will be provided to recipient nations, including conditions which will ensure that the transferred materials will not be used for nuclear explosive devices;

(3)devising, consistent with the policy goals set forth in section 2153b of title 42, feasible and environmentally sound approaches for the siting, development, and management under effective international auspices and inspection of facilities for the provision of nuclear fuel services, including the storage of special nuclear material;

(4)the establishment of repositories for the storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel under effective international auspices and inspection;

(5)the establishment of arrangements under which nations placing spent fuel in such repositories would receive appropriate compensation for the energy content of such spent fuel if recovery of such energy content is deemed necessary or desirable; and

(6)sanctions for violation of the provisions of or for abrogation of such binding international undertakings.

(b)

(d)The fuel assurances contemplated by this section shall be for the benefit of nations that adhere to policies designed to prevent proliferation. In negotiating the binding international undertakings called for in this section, the President shall, in particular, seek to ensure that the benefits of such undertakings are available to non-nuclear-weapon states only if such states accept IAEA safeguards on all their peaceful nuclear activities, do not manufacture or otherwise acquire any nuclear explosive device, do not establish any new enrichment or reprocessing facilities under their de facto or de jure control, and place any such existing facilities under effective international auspices and inspection.

(e)The report required by section 3281 of this title shall include information on the progress made in any negotiations pursuant to this section.

(f)(1)The President may not enter into any binding international undertaking negotiated pursuant to subsection (a) which is not a treaty until such time as such proposed undertaking has been submitted to the Congress and has been approved by concurrent resolution.

(2)The proposals prepared pursuant to subsection (b) shall be submitted to the Congress as part of an annual authorization Act for the Department of Energy.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Subsec. (b) of this section, directed the President to submit to Congress not later than six months after Mar. 10, 1978, proposals for initial fuel assurances, including creation of an interim stockpile of uranium enriched to less than 20 percent in the uranium isotope 235 (low-enriched uranium) to be available for transfer pursuant to a sales arrangement to nations which adhere to strict policies designed to prevent proliferation when and if necessary to ensure continuity of nuclear fuel supply to such nations, which submission was to include proposals for the transfer of low-enriched uranium up to an amount sufficient to produce 100,000 MWe years of power from light water nuclear reactors, and also to include proposals for seeking contributions from other supplier nations to such an interim stockpile pending the establishment of INFA. Subsec. (c) of this section, which directed the President, in the report required by section 103 of Pub. L. 95–242, title I, Mar. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 122, formerly set out as a note under section 3222 of this title, to also address the desirability of and options for foreign participation, including investment, in new United States uranium enrichment facilities, the arrangements that would be required to implement such participation, and the commitments that would be required as a condition of such participation, was omitted in view of the omission of section 103 of Pub. L. 95–242.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Mar. 10, 1978, except as otherwise provided and regardless of any requirements for the promulgation of implementing

Regulations

, see section 603(c) of Pub. L. 95–242, set out as a note under section 3201 of this title.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions Secretary of State responsible for performing functions vested in President under subsecs. (a) and (d), see section 2(a) of Ex. Ord. No. 12058, May 11, 1978, 43 F.R. 20947, set out as a note under section 3201 of this title.

§3223 International Undertakings